Canoe Creek being eyed for biking, walking path

The Henderson City-County Bicycle Committee still has a way to go before it presents its updated bike path plan, but one of the ideas it is currently looking at is a dedicated walking and biking path along Canoe Creek between U.S. 60 and Old Madisonville Road.

Assistant City Manager William "Buzzy" Newman told the committee Wednesday afternoon that the city of Henderson already owns much of the needed land along the approximately five miles of creek. "I'd say we own 85 percent of it," and the creek bank has already been cleared as part of flood prevention efforts.

The main problem, he said, is that the city does not own a place to provide access near U.S. 60. But one possibility is reaching an agreement with the Knights of Columbus, which owns land that backs up to the creek.

"So far all the property owners along Canoe Creek have been very cooperative" in flood mitigation efforts, he said.

There is also a possibility of extending the path on the other side of U.S. 60, he said, but a major stumbling block is about 71 acres owned by The Nature Conservancy at the mouth of the creek. That organization, in trying to protect the endangered Tennessee leafcup, and has set conditions that have effectively stymied overtures by the Flood Mitigation Board to buy the property.

The Canoe Creek proposal is about the only dedicated bike path in the plan so far, except for the existing one that links Kimsey Lane to Hoffman Plaza shopping center.

Committee Chair Marcia Eblen said the bike committee's plan is still a work in progress. "It's still fluid," she said. "It's not set in stone until we present it to the public and get their input on it. It's not going to be taken to the city and the county (governments) until after we have our public meeting."

Here, however, are some highlights of what the committee is considering:

Erin Mattingly of the Evansville Metropolitan Planning Organization, which does transportation planning for Henderson County, recommended bike lanes on Second Street from the overpass to Henderson County High School, which probably could be created by re-striping the street to make the driving lanes a bit narrower and creating four to six feet for a bike lane.

The plan at this point also envisions bike lanes along the full length of Kentucky 425. The southern bypass has wide shoulders, Mattingly noted, "so we're just going to use the shoulders as a lane."

Bike lanes are also being looked at on Main Street between Fifth and 12th streets, although most of Main Street would see shared lanes, as will eight other bike routes in the city. Bike routes outside the city will probably be marked with signs advising motorists to share the road with cyclists.